Mediatwits #39: Cord-Cutting Special: Comcast Streampix; Google Fiber

Cable giant Comcast hopes that its new Streampix streaming service will keep cable subscribers from cutting the cord

Eric Elia

Welcome to the 39th episode of “The Mediatwits,” the weekly audio podcast from MediaShift. The co-hosts are MediaShift’s Mark Glaser and Brightcove’s Eric Elia, who is filling in for Rafat Ali. This week we convene a special roundtable to talk about one of our favorite subjects: cutting the cord to cable TV! We had hoped that a Comcast executive would join us, but he had to cancel at the last minute. Fortunately, we still had a stellar lineup of guests: Wall Street Journal’s Ben Schechner, NewTeeVee’s Ryan Lawler and Free Press’ Jenn Ettinger.

The big news of the week was that cable giant Comcast announced its own streaming service called Xfinity Streampix, which is only offered to cable subscribers. They either pay $4.99 per month for the add-on service or it’s free for people in the higher tiers of service. Will it keep people from cutting the cord and dumping Comcast? Also, Google has been laying fiber optic lines in Kansas City for a test run of a possible pay TV service. What does the search giant have up its sleeve?

[Streampix] really isn't a direct competitor to Netflix. It's just a way for Comcast to sink their claws deeper into the consumer." -Ryan Lawler

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